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Today a well aged German ration:

1993 German Einmannpackung Typ II This ration was in amazing shape for 19 years old,i think its in good shape for being new even, this was stored well before i got it.
That said I dont think the box would hold up to much compared to an MRE bag.

The ration is a little heavy, but much lighter than an Italian ration.

Everything looks intact and safe hopefully i can eat them all.

Lets take a closer look at the contents, starting with the food

The captions are rough translations of each item Looks like a decent amount of food, the candy and chocolate are a nice touch also.

All packages are intact!

Now for some non food items that were inside. I didn't cover the bags and napkins they are bags and napkins.

Standard items otherwise, no utensil though i assume they were issued seperatly.

The matches are unique, i will be saving them, You just dont see a book of wooden matches too often

Oh my god, vintage EPA - I can remember! Nice item - I`m very interested if it is still edible.
The problem with the wet tissues is well known, they lost the alcohol over the years.

The warning on the water purification tabs is not to swallow them!

and the Matches are fine, arn`t they? "Bundeswehr mit Sicherheit Ja" - I still have some stickers like them...


good review so long,

sw342pd

Great pics, thank you for sharing them

Name_not_found wrote:
This ration was in amazing shape for 19 years old,i think its in good shape for being new even, this was stored well before i got it.

I had a 19 years old EPa entree before - don´t worry

Cold war period EPa´s were designed to be stored up to 20 years - serious! The Bundeswehr always had 600.000 EPa´s "in stock". Every 10 years they rotated the "old" EPa´s out and store new one´s in. Once a week you had an "EPa day" in the installation where the "old" EPAs were served as lunch to the troops.

I´m too curious if do you do a review how do you like it.




The cold war EPa containers were different from the curret. They had an sqaure shape and were very solid, you had to cut them open. No oxigen could move (diffuse) inside and spoil the food.


Three different "Gulasch" containers from 1984, 1999 and 2003

Name_not_found wrote: That said I dont think the box would hold up to much compared to an MRE bag.

A MRE bag is a single meal (1.200kcal, 700gr), an EPa is a 24hrs ration with breakfast, lunch and dinner = ~3.300kcal by a weight of 1,6kg
If do you compare three MREs (3.600kcal) to one EPa (3.300kcal) -you are right. If do you have to carry one EPa (1,6kg) or three MRE bags (2,1kg) - you will miss the EPa


The chocolate





is a dark chocolate. The biggest advantage is it does not melt into great heat like in a dessert and also prevent from the need to go tot the bathroom

The rest of the review will be posted shortly, i had an interruption that needed to be handled.

What do the matches mean?
I like the hedgehog thing, where can i find some decal's

Housil i meant that the cardboard box will surly wear out in the field faster than a airdrop-able MRE outer bag, (packaging not food amount)

I have about 70 more photos/7 posts left, stay tuned.

Name_not_found wrote: Housil i meant that the cardboard box will surly wear out in the field faster than a airdrop-able MRE outer bag, (packaging not food amount)

Oh - I see

The cardboard was for storage only. Once distributed to the troops, you spread all the food out over your whole equipment like into your gas mask carrier, into your sleeping bag, pockets etc.

What do the matches mean?
I like the hedgehog thing, where can i find some decal's

It say´s "Bundeswehr with safety/security Yes"
That was the slogan from 1980 to the end of cold war. I have had decals back there, but that´s +20 years ago...

I had 3 "classic" EPa's last year from Housil (and I want to thank him again), was my food on SAR traning course, and now I'm struggling with an Menu VII EPa from Lars/sw342pd. My 4 years old niece already robbed me on cereal bar, juices and chocolate, I didn't gave her the Dextrose... My pation stash is almost empty, so I'll start to pile again for next training course in August.

In a few words: good chow.

Lets eat!

I will start with a continental breakfast. Coffee was not good
Tea was nice, not great, but it would hit the spot when needed.

I will have some crackers and jelly to round out breakfast Hartkeks are very good!
They are very hard but chew easily, not drying at all.
I ate one pack dry before even opening the jelly, which has the calories of a meal i have heard.

Jelly was nice nothing special, other than its a cherry and i haven't had that kind yet in a ration.
Not too sweet, good solid jelly that spread well on the hartkek.

Hopefully i can save a few crackers for the rest of the ration